APRSdata.TXT APRSdata Sumary
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Document version: DB1
Document dated: 02 Jul 2002 (previous ver was 12 Mar 2002)
Author(s): Bob Bruninga, WB4APR
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Ver DB0: * Keps file now defaults to "amateur.txt" for easy entry
Ver DA1: * Map and Satellites will not overwrite new incoming msgs
* DATA Base now responds to QUERY and ?, not just QDOS
* INPUT-KEPS now only takes NASA 2-line files for simplicity
Other Version HISTORY notes are at the end of this file.
APRSdata is a copy of APRSdos with additional features for serving up
"Tiny-Web-Pages" to Kenwood Mobiles and HT's in your area. The initial
idea was to serve up Satellite data, but then it was trivial to add any
other position related databases as well. Here are the default Databases:
* Puts any Satellites in view up as Objects automatically. Each sat
shows its up and downlink frequencies and present doppler. Below
4 degrees, the uplink frequency is replaced with the elevation.
* Can give VOICE alerts to D700 users of satellites in view
* Maintains an 80 min sat schedule in users DX lists every 10 mins
* Responds with a packet of info for any of these special Query Commands:
HELP - Responds with a list of commands to mobile's DX LIST
DIGIS,IGATE,WX - Nearest DIGI,WX or Igate heard on the air as an OBJECT
SATS - Updates the SAT SKED in the mobile user's DX LIST
* Responds to these Queries with the closest object in the XXX.POS:
ATV,CLUB,NET,FD - ATV repeaters, CLUBS, on-air nets or FD sites
Crashes - Known crash sites to avoid errors during SAR
NWR, NWS - NOAA WX Radio & Freq, or Natl Wx Service Site
Voice - Nearest Voice repeater of sigificance
DX - Nearest DX cluster
HOSP, FD - Nearest Hospital or Field Day Site
RS - Nearest Radio Shack or Radio Store
PARK,CAMP - Nearest PARK (includes Camps) or just CAMPgrounds
XXXX - Nearest Object in any other POS\XXXX.POS file
OTHER - WIll list these others files (NOT YET IMPLEMENTED)
SATELLITE SETUP: Please limit this capability to only those satellties
that are workable with the mobile or HT so that you do not clutter up
144.39 with data of little use to anyone. At this date, I recommend
ISS, UO-14, UO-22, AO-27, AO-40, PCsat and Sapphire. To enable these
satellite alerts and skeds, select the POSITIONS list and move the
cursor down to the satellites to be announced when they come in view.
Hit ENTER to select the satellite and then "U" for uplink in the usual
fashion to mark an object for uplink. If the satellite is above the
horizon, then it will become yellow and uplinked immediately. If, as
is more likely, it is not in view, it will be marked as a killed object
as dark blue for subsequent uplink later when it does come into view.
HF SATELLITES: Since the Mode-A RS birds can be heard on a mobile HF
rig, you can also just mark the satellite on the P-LIST for "L" to
be sure it is included in the periodic DX LIST satellite schedule, but
it will not be announced as an object to minimize QRM. The RS birds
are in higher orbits and in view for up to 20 minutes or more at a time
and it is felt that one-minute objects would be too much for the local
net. Yet HF users still will see its AOS in their DX lists.
LEO SATELLITE TIMING: Satellites to be uplinked on 144.39 are transmitted
when they pass above 1 deg and then about 80 seconds later using the
normal decay rate. But this jump to 160 seconds trips the selection
process so that the next time through the satellite list, in 10 to 20
seconds, it will again be rescheduled for uplink and the process repeats.
AO40 and AO10 TIMING: For the eliptical satellites, the same rule
applies, but the delay between the transmissions is about 10 minutes.
Due to the large number of modes, the UPLINK frequency is not shown
but is replaced with an elevation angle when it is above 1 deg.
Otherwise the center of the analog UHF passband is shown. Also, in the
DXlist schedules, these satellites are only shown as " is UP" instead
of an AOS time.
SATELLITE SCHEDULES: Once every 10 minutes, a single Satellite
schedule will be transmitted as a DX spot. This will be captured on
everyone's DX LIST and can show as many as 4 satellites. To force
the transmission of a new schedule, hit NEXT-SCHED. SImilarly, any
user can request a satellite schedule with a QUERY:?SATS command.
New in version DA0, satellites can be marked with a "L" for inclusion
in the DX LIST separately without also forcing them as objects.
VOICE ANNOUNCEMENTS on the D700: To enable a voice announcement to
alert anyone with a D700 and voice chip, simply select that station in
the POSITION list and select the VOICE option with the "V" command.
Once a minute (I will reduce this later when I get around to it) it
will send out a message that will speak "U-O-1-4 LOW" if the satellite
is betwwen 5 and 19 degrees. "Medium" if it is 20 to 29 deg and "High"
if it is above 30 deg. To allow users to request this data without
prior action by the SYSOP, APRSdata will send voice announcements to
any D700 that has his CUSTOM-1 comment set. This does add substantial
message traffic to the channel load, so users should not do this except
when really needed.
LOCATION: APRSdata uses the position of the mobile for its search. If
the mobile wants to request the nearest Object closest to some other
location, then he should temporarily change his posit to that location.
If a Mobile has not transmitted a posit or it is 0000/0000, then
APRSdata responds with a message that no data is available without
knowing the stations location.
SYSOP FUNCTIONS:
While serving as this community resource for others, APRSdata still is
usable by the local operator as a normal APRSdos program and assumes
the operator is fully familiar with APRSdos. For more indepth
discussion of my overall APRS/SATELLITE concept, see ASTARS.TXT or
APRStk.TXT or better go to my WEB page to see the latest.
http://www.ew usna.edu/~bruninga/astars.html
Just let APRSdata run on a PC in the corner. See the SETUP
in the final section below for initial set up. In addition to
the normal APRSdos displays for the local operator, APRSdata also:
* Predicts satellite pases over the next 80 mins and displays the times
and peak elevations graphically. (Use NEXT and/or FILE-FAST commands)
It will do this EVERY time you redraw the map if you set ALT-S-OTHER
to REDRAW. Or otherwise, on a slow PC, leave REDRAW OFF, and you
can do it manually. In any case, to serve users, it will do it
automatically after your keyboard has been inactive for 10 minutes.
* Displays the names, Freqs and Modes of all amateur satellites.
Hit the LIST-FREQS command.
* Displays the basic Keplarian Elements for easy comparison with new
or old elements. Hit the LIST-KEPS command.
* Displays locations of satellites on the map as objects.
* Shows the azimuth and elevation to any satellite selected.
* Shows a set of elevation rings showing the range to satellites
above 0, 5, 20 and 40 degrees from your location. Note that this
is dependent on satellite altitude and defaults to 800 km. To
change this use INPUT-EL-RINGS.
* Won't let you miss a pass. If you are zoomed in below a range to see
current satellites in view, it will paint the map the color of the
current maximum elevation of any pass in progress.
* Uplinks these satellite objects to your local APRS LAN to inform
others. To do this select them with UPLINK command on the P-List.
APRSdata will transmit them once per minute when in view, and then kills
them once below -2 deg. Every 10 minutes when the SCHEDULE is drawn
automaticaly due to no-operator present, then APRSdata will also send
out a DX SPOT containing all passes in the next 80 minutes. If there
is an operator present, you can do this at any time with the NEXT-SKED
command. Or users can request it with the Q-SATS message.
* See how many people query your data base on the QUERY line on the
HEARD log.
* Use CONTROLS-FILTERS-IGNORE to ignore all off screen stations. This
helps you control how rapidly your LISTS fill up with local traffic.
* WX-RawCnvrt command now causes APRSdata to retransmit Raw UII wx
packets as APRS formatted packets so that D7/D700 users can display them.
* NEXT "-" command displays PREVIOUS 2 hours of passes so you can see
what satellites you just missed.
HOW THIS WAS IMPLEMENTED: Here is what I had to do to make this work:
1) Queries are sent as Messages
* You send the message to "QDOS, QUERY or ?" ...
* In the message you send ?XXXXX, Where XXXXX is the data you want.
2) The kenwoods do not recognize the concise "ITEM" format which was
designed for this application. THus, I have to use the more verbose
OBJECT format
3) APRSdos does not accept the ACK from APRSdata. THus, APRSdos users
that request data must remember to ERASE the message request once
the data comes in. (Until I get a new modified APRSdos out there)
4) The OLD D7's will not recognize a DX-SPot (the Sat Schedule) unless
it is to a NON-APRS TO-CALL. Thus, these packets are sent to
RESORC. And this takes a lot of overhead for APRSdos to switch
back and forth with the UNPROTO command. Some TNC's dont do this
well. SO each SYSOP should test with a D7 on the air to see if
his TNC is putting in the UNPROTO RESORC VIA ..... correctly.
5) The new COMPRESSED format for objects will not work with old D7's
So APRSdata forces NORMAL format.
DATABASE SETUP:
APRSDATA should default your station to use the INFOSERVER ICON (/?).
APRSdata uses all of the POS\*.POS data files that you already have. To
see these in any version of APRSdos, just hit the MAPS-OVERLAYS commands.
These POS\*.POS files are distributed with each of the major APRSdos
Map distributions. To differentiate them and match them to the area
the users is in, each file uses a .XXX extension that matches the MAPLIST
extension for that area. Thus if you are in the .EAS east coast
distribution, then your Radio Shack file should be named POS\RSHACKS.EAS.
You MUST rename all of these to the appropriate new file name
conventions shown below. Be sure you have loaded the Emaps,Wmaps,Mmaps,
SEmaps,NWmaps or Cmaps.ZIP file for your area.
But since APRSdata will only be serving your local area, and we need to
make the file names short and recognizible, and different from the
national .XXX distribution files, you need to COPY your old local files
to these .POS files. APRSdata will only use .POS files for its QUERY
responses:
RS.POS (was RSHACKS.XXX)
NWS.POS (Was NWSPOSNS.POS)
NWR.POS (Was NWR.XXX)
CRASH.POS (Was CRASHES.XXX)
ZIP.POS (Was ZIP.XXX but distributed separately in ZIPCODES.ZIP)
ATV.POS (Was ATV.POS)
VOICE.POS (Was Voice.xxx)
DX.POS A new file we are working on
CLUB.POS My local area file is included as a sample
NET.POS My local area file is indluded as a sample
HOSP.POS My local area file is included as a sample
PARK.POS My local area file is included as a sample
*** IMPORTANT*** Be sure to keep a copy of ALL of your *.POS files under
a DIFFERENT EXTENSION, say *.MY, so that if you download a NEW copy of
APRSDATA then my SAMPLE files will overwrite your .POS files and you
will need to RE-COPY yours back..
You can build any local file you want. Such as FOOD or GAS, etc.
Just use the format of these files and the NAME of the file will be its
Query Name. For each such file you use, send me the NAME of it, so we
can work up a common list of expected data bases...
The DIGI,IGATE and WX data does not come from POS\*.POS files, but from
what you have heard on the air. The advantage of this is for stand-alone
WX stations that don't normally show on the Kenwoods. But here, APRSdata
converts their raw-PEET-format to standard APRS format for display on
the radios. Now, since you do not want DX stations to overwrite local
stations, APRSdata comes configured with CONTROLS-FILTERS-LIMIT set to
20 to try to limit DX stations from entering your P-List and overwriting
locals. (CFL=20 means it will ignore packets with DIGI Fields longer
than 20 characters).
COORDINATION: It is important to coordinate the location, paths
and coverage of each APRSdata station. Here is what you can do:
1) On D-PAGE, do a JUST-APRDA to find others using APRSdata
2) Set your OUTGOING UNPROTO path to the minimum for your intended area
3) Set your C-F-L filter to a small enough value to not accept Queries
from beyond this area. This is not easy to do with WIDEn-N, but
will work in other areas.
APRSDATA FILE STRUCTURE: APRSDOS has many built-in files.
The .POS files are single files that contain nationwide data. All
other files are broken down to smaller "regional" files that have
the same extension as the regional APRS map distribution files. For
example, all EAST coast files are .EAS. TO make these same categories
work for users using the USA distribution, the default .APR extension
is used. These .APR files are only "representative" selectoins and
are NOT complete. Once the user zooms into the regional MAPLIST,
then it will use the specific file for that region...
DATA M-OVRLY OLD FILE ADATA For the default USA distribution
FILES MENU EXTENSION USES these .APR files are used
-------- ------- --------- ----- --------------------------------
ATV A .POS
CRASHES C .XXX .APR 10% of them
DIGIS D .POS
FREQS F .POS
GATES G .POS
NWSPOSNS N .POS
RSHACKS R .XXX .APR 10% of them
STORES S .POS
VOICE V .XXX .APR
NWR N .XXX .APR 25% of them
ZIPCODES Z .XXX .APR incomplete
OTHER.....O Prompts for file name
The .APR files are selected samples so that when using the USA (.APR)
distribution, something shows up. Once the user selects one of the
regional MAPLIST.XXX, then the correct .XXX file for his area will be
used.
VERSION HISTORY:
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Ver DB1: Just added AO-7 to LEO.ORB and changed PHG to 50% for mobiles
Ver DB0: Assumes default KEPS file name of "AMATEUR.TXT" for easy use
Ver DA1: Was in place Sept 2001 to 12 Mar and was a restart of the
version numbering scheme. But on the next one, I went to DB0
Ver DA0: The RS Mode-A birds can be heard on a mobile HF rig. So I
added the capability to mark a satelite for inclusion on the
every 10 minute DX LIST posting without then also transmitting
it as an object. This saves QRM but still alerts those who
need it.
Ver DA9: Added special processing for AO40 and other Eliptical Sats
Ver DA8: Added VOICE announcements of Satellite altitude to mobile D700
users with the voice chip.
Ver DA7: Minor tweak to appearance of DX list STATUS to not split "your".
Added CONTROLS-FILTERS-IGNORE to ignore all off screen stations.
LIST-KEPS now shows current Julian day to see how old are keps.
Ver DA6: 1) WX Menu RawCnvrt command causes APRSdata to retransmit RawUII
wx packets as APRS formatted packets so that D7/D700 users can
display them.
2) Wont XMIT Sat objects or a SCHEDULE if MYPOS is 0.
3) NEXT "-" displays PREVIOUS 2 hours of passes so you can see
what satellites you just missed.
4) Fixed bug so that if another stations is running APRSdata,
his OBJECTS wont cancel yours.